MICHAEL DEMPSEY - Cranfield University

Cognitive rules and culture
Systems relating to cognitive rules
6.10. The first issue conveying cognitive ‘meanings’ to PCS managers is
their perceptions of how the union has altered, or is altering, in terms of
the relationship between managers and lay members – can one
describe any of the unions as ‘member led’ or ’officer led?’ This is
complicated in PCS because of the strife that took place until 2002
between the Joint General Secretaries and, later, between the General
Secretary elect and the surviving Joint General Secretary.
PCS hasn't made up its mind yet. There are many different
things going on the moment. To be quite blunt, I'm not sure it's
worth me saying anything at the moment. I'm sure you are
aware of the background with what is going on in terms of court
cases and elections and stuff (Interviewee E)
This did not, however, prevent the same interviewee from offering his
own ‘take’ on where the old unions sat:-
In leaving Unison I had been interested in IT management and
issues of organisations and cultures. I quoted Ouroussof a lot in
all my papers and looking at all the senior managers together
there were two camps and I think two cultures that summed up
PTC and CPSA. The CPSA approach was that this is all
nonsense, just get on and do it, we're not having working parties
or committees, we’re not discussing this or that with debates,
discussion or inclusiveness. The PTC approach was that we had
better set up a committee to discuss this and have some lay
involvement and get views on this and that. I think that came out
quite a bit and certainly there were people who were navel
gazing and blue sky thinking and a sort of cynical, this is all
nonsense, approach. That very much describes the cultures.
(Interviewee E)
The idea that it is difficult to pin down PCS culture in this particular
respect is supported elsewhere:-
I think we probably now have across PCS got a huge range of
different cultures in the different groups that are historical. I
moved around different groups in NUCPS and each different
bargaining group had its own way of working and different
relationships between officers and lay people. I think we have a
lot of diversity, probably, at the moment. (Interviewee G)
But the diversity, it is suggested, has not been a benign diversity:-
Both the previous unions I was a part of were the second
category, partnership. Clearly with a General Secretary who was
the General Secretary but not all power devolving from him. The
General Secretary's view was that you were paid a lot of money
to get on with it and he would praise you when you did OK and
give you bloody hell if you screwed up on something. That has
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